Every Day Life, Sights, and people in the kingdom 1971-1980 - part 2
Enjoy a little music as you look back in time. Lovely Hula Girl – click to play
Not to be too repetitious,, but here we have more young dancers in Niuatoputapu…its worth repeating.
Circa 1975. The Centennial Celebration.
A young woman in a hand made hat in ‘Eua.
Tin can Island, Niuafo’ou. No wharf on this day. The winds and waters would not allow it. Like in the old days they used just a rope, a small “raft” and a prayer. Over the years, many times mail was put into a sealed can and the tide would “deliver” it…most of the time.
A view from the rocks, of the “raft” rope and the ship in the distance. The raft was full of copra that would bring to the island it’s only real income in those days.
As Bob Forbes recalls, this slightly out of focus photo shows the Niuafo’ou welcoming committee, upon his arrival, comprised pretty much of all the men of the island, I believe.
Off to ‘Eua for a nice and bumpy, vomit inducing cruise from Tongatapu.
In the evenings in Tafahi, most people, because of the shortage of fresh water, went to the shore to bathe. The children liked to play in the tide pools.
Bob Peterson and friends.
Mike Basil (Our Peace Corps assistant Country Director) sporting a mucho, macho man pose with a cigarette in hand and an amused Tonga girl to his right.
Teach a man to fish…
A group of kids playing on a boat off of Vuna Road in Ma’afunga.
In Bob Forbes words…”Our leaky wooden sailboat spending the night off the shore of Malinoa Island where we, Robert Berley, Eiji and I fished and camped one night”. It wasn’t leaking too bad, it’s still above the water.
Sail boats work best with wind, it’s a fact. No such luck this day. Bob Forbes was bringing out a few of the new volunteers for a sail on his leaky boat…but instead they enjoyed their time floating.
There be wind on this day.
Jan Worth, Bob Peterson and Bill Stults enjoying a meal with Osamu and Sivei, the official hosts of Bob’s first few weeks learning about all things Tongan.
Hang’n around the grass hut. Probably a Sunday after church and a small feast.
Greg Brombach (Tonga 15) at the blow holes.
The blow holes taking a little nap.
Fully awake. The blow holes go on for a few kilometers and are an amazing thing to behold.
I do believe we all, if we spent any time in the kingdom, visited this wonderful beach. The swimming and snorkeling was always amazing.
Another photo of the transportation hub outside of the Talamahu market in Nuku’alofa. Circa 1976.
Almost there. Niuatoputapu, is the furthest point in the Tongan island chain. Back then no power, no air strip, just a beautiful collection of islands.
Local Tongan wood carving artist getting ready for cruise ship season. Circa 1976
Bob Forbes mentioned that this photo reminded him of a scene in ET where the alien is hidden in plain sight with all of the stuffed animals. He’s got a point.
Coming home from a family picnic on ther windward side of Niuatoputapu.
Cleaning some super fresh sea food in Niua.
An afternoon jump into the freshwater spring in Niuatoputapu, Niutou’ua.
I do not know who this young lady is, but I do know she has a beautiful smile, as most Tongan’s do and that she is on Vuna road. Anyone recognize her?
Girls working a family stall at the Talamahu Market.
Manuloa, Director of the Agricultural Office, showing his talents in, yet, another Tongan dance.
As the song goes, “Lovely Hula Girl…”.
From left to right, Mark Stifler, Lolo (Ralph), Denny (in very fashionable bell bottoms) and Tomasi, all downing a cold beer on a warm afternoon.
Bob added more to his back pack photo of him in NZ above, one of his happiest memories ever (even though it was developed backwards). Taken in Blenheim, NZ soon after he disembarked the Cook Strait ferry and crashed at the home of Marion Van Dijk, sister of one of his VSA friends and a newspaper photographer— midway thru his Big NZ Adventure:
Bill Stults and Bob Forbes doing nothing in particular
According to Bob, he learned Tongan slack-key tuning and tried to play some with the locals, but never could quite match that “high & lonesome” sound they could make with their harmonies. I’m going to guess that Bob is playing some kind of ode to fingers of bananas…might also be Puff the Magic Dragon.
Bob Forbes with a catch of the day and a very interested feline friend.
A couple of Bob Forbes working peeps, Taniela and Sione in full Hibiscus mode.
Susan and workers at her coconut button factory.
A bike ride down the “main street” of Pangai on Lifuka Island in Ha’apai.
Catch of the day.
Another cruise ship in port. I remember one time I was walking through this market, just window shopping, and I was ready to pay for a fan from on of the vendors and she said, in Tongan, “Thank you for not telling them (the tourists) they could ask for a better deal. It hadn’t crossed my mind, but I gratefully accepted the free fan anyway. Saving that one dollar (Pa’anga) equated to a bag of peanuts and two beers at the club that night…SCORE!
More goodies for the discerning cruise ship guest.
Ready for the cruise ship tourists.
Cruise ship entertainment.
These two young girls were dressed up to compete in the yearly Christmas dance competition
Julianne Hickey taken as she was about to depart Fua’amotu airport at the end of her service in 1977.
But whilst still in the Kingdom Julie (Tonga 15) is seen relaxing and enjoying, i suspect a refreshing adult beverage with Laura Koutsky (Tonga 16) and Caroline Bly (Tonga 17).
This is the government issued “Intoxicating Beverage” license one needed if one wanted to buy intoxicating beverages. The monthly amount allowed was huge according to my liver.
I sent my parents this sketch of my hut in Ngelia because they were curious what my little place looked like. I give myself a B+ for the art work.
This is a photo of my 8 X 10 foot hut when I first moved in. I had just started planting bananas, a couple of coconuts and a collection of flowers. I also started building a kitchen and hot water shower heater as seen in the illustration above.
This was my hut, several months later, with all of the plants I planted thriving, including two banana plants and a coconut tree. I visited my village some twenty six years later and the coconut tree was over forty feet tall. My hut and the one next door, after countless cyclones, were still there.
A black and white photo of Debbie Gardner’s hut (the taller one) and my hut in the back ground. Our huts were housed on the far corner of the Ngelia Primary School grounds. Circa 1976.
One more photo of our huts in Ngele’ia looking towards the old primary school.
Introducing the story of the City Mouse and my first experience with growing peanuts. It seemed pretty simple. Put peanuts in the ground and wait for a bountiful supply of lovely legumes within a couple of months. I did everything right, fertilizer, daily watering and pulling weeks from around the plants. Under my watchful eyes they grew big and healthy in no time at all. Only one problem I had…not a single peanut showed up. No Google back then so I was on my own. I figured all I needed was a few more weeks of loving care and watering and they would start showing up. No such luck…still not a single peanuts. I wasnt sure what I was doing, but it was time for a crop rotation so one morning I made the decision to pull the uncooperative plants up ans move on. As I pulled the plants out of the ground I learned a valuable lesson…PEANUTS GROW UNDER GROUND, like potatoes. Who knew…probably almost everyone in the world except me.
Denny Dipaolo getting finishing decorations while, it would seem, he was nailing his village dance.
A lazy day on Tongatapu. Tomasi and Denny with friends.
This note from Bob Forbes…Soon after I stepped in to that position, the subject of the King’s 60th birthday celebration came up, and it was “strongly suggested” that certain organizations pay homage with “banners” for the king to ride under during his procession down Taufa’ahau Rd. I was not sure if TWB should participate as we had many other priorities, and I consulted with the Filipino manager of the Tonga Electric Board who drew the same conclusion. So I informed the TWB staff that we would pass on this exercise. Within an hour or two, I received a rather irate phone call from my boss, Minister of Health Sione Tapa, who did not mince words in telling me there had BETTER BE a BANNER on the road from Tonga Water Board, or ELSE. Not knowing what “else” he may have been referring to, I called in the chief plumber to tell him of our predicament, and he already had a plan. It would cost about $500 but what the hell, the king needs to be paid homage to… this was within 2 days of the celebration, so we worked round the clock to get this banner up using water pipes and a sign contractor. I took this photo the day prior to the parade. I was too nervous during the parade itself to take any more photos, just glad that the entourage passed under this contraption without having anything fall on them (what a memorable moment that might have been.)
This story reminds me of an adventure I had regarding the same kind of banner or what we called an archway. I was asked (make that told) by the Headmaster at Tonga High School about a week before the Centennial Celebration, to paint a picture of His Majesty Tupou IV for the school’s archway. I agreed, not knowing how I would do it and having very few supplies to do it. I found an beat up piece of press board and cut our a round “canvas” to create my masterpiece. I decided to do a sepia colored Seurat style (it’s called pointillism and used a concentration of paint dots to construct a scene or portrait). It took me a few days, with the help of a few students (One being Albert Tuiavake who remembers learning about this style of painting and seeing it start to come into focus…anyone else out there who helped?) finish and then I brought the Headmaster in to take a look see. He walked into the class room and showed shock on his face with an immediate verbal rejection of my masterpiece. “This is no good, it looks like you spilled paint on the board.” He even dramatically added, “Is this a joke”? There was only a day or so before the celebration.
I knew he was going to freak out seeing this painting from only a few feet away, but I couldn’t help myself. At this point I took the painting outside of the room and asked him to walk a few feet away down the hallway and turn around. He did and still remained unconvinced. I told him to walk down the hallway further and turn around again. His eyes made it clear that he was still unhappy with the results. I told him to walk until I told him to stop and then turn around…about 30 feet away. He turned and his face lit up…there was Tupou IV as clear as could be. He was giddy with excitement and, of course, was happy as could be after that. I wish I would have taken a photo, but it didn’t occur to me that I would ever put a web site together to feature such a story. Hind sight is 20/20 although as far as pointillism it’s 30/30.
A proud moment as I received my official Royal Nuku’alofa Martini Club membership. This membership entitled me to buy one bottle of gin each month and to drink “a few drinks” with fellow members once a week. It’s still a mystery where Phil found the green olives.
Getting ready to down my first official martini as the newest Royal Nuku’alofa Martini Club member.
Tomasi, Kevin Holmes and his future wife, Fane. It would appear Tomasi might be in an altered state, but who’s to say.
Speaking of his future wife here is Kevin in full Tonga traditional marriage gear posing with Simaimi Baker, who represented Kevin’s family at the wedding. Jan Worth and Roger Bower are in the back ground. Thank you, Bob for the great shot.
Kevin and his bride, Fane Vea, at the celebration of the first Sunday od married life.
An historic moment, Tomasi Riddle in a sports coat and tie. I’m guessing this was at the Centennial celebration?
Jack “Siaki” Fones let me know who this gent’s name was, Sinipata (Sinbad). He was the maintenance man for the building where the Peace Corps office was. I don’t remember him working there, but I do remember him around Nuku’alofa, he probably started after I left. Check out the Shell gravity fed, “visible” gas pumps behind him. That’s the Hau Hau theater in the back ground.
At the corner of Taufa’ahau Road and Queen Salote Road. In today’s Tonga a wonderful cafe named Friends is on the left and the New Zealand High Commission Office are on the right.
Talamahu Market Saturday morning.
Highlighting a design on a classic Tongan tapa. No telling what tapa artist generation this young lady is. It would appear that the dog next to her could care less. Tina let me know the name of this lady working on this tapa is Loiloi. She lived in Ha’steiho and was married to Fonumanu, Nobleman ‘Havea’s son. Tina also visited her during her trip down to Tonga in 2008.
The Tongatapu post office. Its still the post office, but much smaller. The side of the building is now a coffee shop. around on the other side is a Chinese restaurant and there is also the office of Air Fiji. As odd as it might sound there is a volley ball court on the far side of the building.
A small world example of a visitor from 1965 seen here posing in a traffic officer’s shack in downtown Nuku’alofa. His name is Roger Scullion and he happen upon Tonga while working on a merchant marine ship. I’ve know Roger for some 15 years or so and just found out about his short visit to the Kingdom all those years ago. You will notice, in the back ground, a Morris Hedstrom store logo. MH stores were once everywhere in the South Pacific…not so much any more.
One of the cool things about Tonga was their great stamps. The banana stamp was my personal favorite, but the Dateline hotel stamp is also pretty cool. Come to think about I liked all of their stamps. Good news is they still have many of these stamps if you ever want to send a post card from the Kingdom.
Might even be two cruise ships in town today.
Emile, Debbie and Rich Dann at the airport to welcome the new Peace Corps volunteers (Tonga 17).
Tonga 11 at Tonga High School during training. (Circa 1972) Names I do have, partly with the help of Dave…Far left, Richard Brohan, next Bill Colby, then Al Massinger and the bond guy almost to the far right, Mike Breisted.
The “Tonga 17” plane arrives in Tonga.
Here they are, jet lagged and pretty much pooped and excited at the very same time. This is the Tonga 17 group upon arrival at Fua’amotu Airport in Sept. 1976. Luckily, I dug up an old Tonga 17 roster, so here goes, from left to right: Joe Bullard, Rick Nathanson (just his hair), Jan Worth, Tim Brockman, Joe Perrone, Joe Salvo, Bob Forbes, Jack Fones, William Brandewie, Carolyn Fones, Caroline Bly (now Wulzen), Cheryl Brandewie, Virginia Goulding, Ann Goddard, David Goddard, Lorraine Leiser, Burt Vincent, Bob Peterson, Mike Delauder.
Gathering bags and wearing fresh leis. What now? l to r: Jan Worth, Lorraine Leiser, David Goddard, Dave Goodrich (far right foreground, from an earlier group).
The following three photos are of the Tonga 17 group upon arrival Sept. 1976. First photo, from l to r: Joe Perrone (staring at camera), Mary George, Dave Goddard, Bob Peterson. Middle pic, the only two plainly visible are Lorraine Leiser and Bob Peterson. Bottom pic l to r: Tim Brockman, Lorraine Leiser (peeking thru), Caroline Bly, Carolyn & Jack Fones.
Top pic l to r: Dennis Ferman, Joe Salvo, Bill Brandewie, and Burt Vincent.
Next pic l to r: Unidentified legs, Steve Porter (British VSO), and Bob Forbes.
3rd pic l to r: Mike Delauder, Pulu Tohi (back to cam), Jan Worth, and John Launder (British VSO)
Bottom pic was not from training and Francis Lundy at left is only one I recognize. Although I remember the chap at right as being a PCV teacher, can’t recall his name.
And now a view of the inside of the Fua’amotu International Airport circa 1978. As an FYI, that little girl is well over 40 years old at this point. The building is still there although now its for inter island flights only.
Then off to language and culture studies.
Top pic l to r: Dennis Ferman, Joe Salvo, Bill Brandewie, and Burt Vincent.
Next pic l to r: Unidentified legs, Steve Porter (British VSO), and Bob Forbes.
3rd pic l to r: Mike Delauder, Pulu Tohi (back to cam), Jan Worth, and John Launder (British VSO)
Bottom pic was not from training and Francis Lundy at left is only one recognizable.
Dottie Rayburn, Doug Jackson and Mary George.
A tough day at the beach. I see Jon, Tomasi and the gent in the blue shorts is Mark Stiffler.
Bob Forbes lasted a lot longer than I did, playing a whole season of rugby with the Tahimate rugby club. Like me he found the rules of this game were pretty much a head scratcher most of the time.
Tina Martin posing at what appears to be lunch time. The full story is Tina’s Tongan friend, Likua who brought Tina to her families bush farming land. more to follow with this story.
Dave Wyler and one sleepy friend.
Weaving a new home? Tomasi corrected me. This wasn’t a home being built (silly me), it was a kitchen being made for a new teacher.
Taniela Latu and Bob Forbes memorialized in this photo appearing to work hard for the camera.
Okay red wire, Check, Now lets see, yep, green wire, check and one spool red wire. enough work for the day. Time for a beer break. I’m pretty sure this is what was going on, but contact Bob and he will be happy to tell you the rest of the story.
Proof positive that Peace Corps got something done back then. This water catch is still there after 40 plus years.
The venerable Vava’u Club in, you guessed it, Vava’u. The last time I was in Vava’u the building was still there, but it seemed to be held together by a large family of termites. As Bob Forbes said, the views from the club were unrivaled.
A great view on Vava’u’s Neiafu harbor area.
This is another view from the water to the land showing kids playing on the mooring rope of the Good Ship ‘Ata in Neiafu Harbor. In the back ground, for those of you what have been there you can see the Vava’u Club, on the waters edge and the iconic St. Joseph’s Cathedral which is still there.
All I had as a boy was a bike. This kid had a horse and a pony.
Ongoalupe Tuifua and two friends at the International Dateline Hotel on Tonga’tapu.
Bob Forbes and Chris Sokol (Tonga 18) holding a bunch of bananas in Neiafu, Vava’u. I’m guessing, freshly arrived via a long boat ride from Tonga’tapu.
Ralph (Lolo), Pila, our Peace Corps driver and all around to stuff guy, and Emile are seen putting our first Peace Corps newsletter (The Taimi Totonu…”Just in Time”) together. It was delivered on the July 4th.
Arguably, Tonga’s most famous monument is the Ha’amonga a’ Maui, a nine hundred year old trilithon.
This will give you a size feel of this magnificent artifact. Circa 1976.
Sitting with three new friends at an ancient royal tomb in Lapaha.
Another example of the wonderfully green homes of the Tongan’s that still existed in substantial numbers while I was there in the mid seventies.
The end of a family picnic day in Ha’apai.
Three photos of Tina Martin, Tonga 6. (Circa 1971). This one was taken at Vaikeli Tokomolo, where she and Likua walked on Sunday. The next photo is Tina at her kerosene stove holding Malia on her hip. The next is with Lupe, the Nobel Havea’s daughter. She stayed with Tina for the first months she was in Tonga.
Ancient Royal Tombs in the village of Lapaha.
One of the Ancient Royal Tombs at Lapaha.
OK, left to right (irrespective of row) we have: Doug Petersen, Rick Nathanson, Dave and Ann Goddard holding their baby girl Cecilee, Lorraine Leiser (front), Jan Worth, Bob Forbes, Caroline Bly, Bob Morrill (smoking cigar), Joe Perrone holding his fiancée (don’t remember her name), Bonnie Morrill, Ed Whittle and his girlfriend, Tu’i. Sadly Dave Goddard and his daughter Cecillee—they were both killed in a plane crash in Moab, Utah in 2008 while on a medical mission; RIP:
Now if I could only add the sound of the small waves lapping against the sandy shore.
A common sight back then…slow but, reliable. Tina took this photo and ID’s one of the little girls as Saini. Tina met up with her when she visited Tonga in 2008, during the coronation.
Off to New Zealand. Three weeks of hitch hiking around the south and north islands. Tent living every night.
Proof I made to New Zealand. This was taken in Rotorua, at a Maori village. I can not get over those sexy shorts I wore for two years. I’m thinking about putting another section highlighting PCV’s get away vacation photos from that time. more to came later.
Serves me right.
Yes, that is fresh whale meat in my hands. It was the 1970’s so give me a break. I was in Vava’u when they brought in a whale. I was told it was a suicide so I was okay with it…although after thinking about it, they may have been fibbing to me.
Tom, Lolo and friends. Lolo was our groups flute player. Not just a traditional run of the mill mouth to instrument kind, but also an accomplished nose flute player. Not at all easy to play when one had a cold.
Al Messinger (Tonga 11) and a friend.
Here are 3 of my drinking buddies, from l to r: Merle Anders, Bill Stults, and Kevin Holmes. Merle was an Ag-specialist PCV who later worked for Peter Warner in Tonga, then went on to get his PhD in Agronomy and is now a crop consultant in Arkansas. Thanks Bob for this information.
Okay, it’s a little older than the 1980’s,, but worth it. Tonga’s rugby team. Circa 1957.
Here I am at the Royal Nuku’alofa Club before he was King, Crown Prince George Tupou. He liked to talk to me about the old days of the 1970’s. He would always invite me over to his official bar corner to talk and I would always buy the beers.
The day I left Tonga. All of my worldly stuff was in the back of this horse drawn wagon, headed off to the Peace Corps office. Next stop American Samoa. Lapalani, in the back ground scored big that day when I gave him my guitar (which I brought with me to learn to play…sadly didn’t pick it up once) and my bike. He always watched after me and was generous with his smile and eggs. And I was, in my opinion, generous with my dimes and quarters for his movie going and lolli munching pleasure.
A sweet letter Lapalani sent my mom about our friendship. Yes, I had to pay for the postage.
A black and white Tafahi sunset.
A bonus piece of Peace Corps history.
A little earlier than the 1974 – 1980 timeline…A ceremonial first hand shake between a representative from the Peace Corps government offices and His Majesty King Tupou IV in 1966. To date there have been over 1900 volunteers who have served in the Kingdom. I will try to track down who the representative was.